Cabot Cliffs

[Guy Nicholson]

I was there last month. I loved the symbolism of the old opener, straight out to sea and directly at the island, but I agree that the new sequence is better for the same reasons above.

[Matt Kardash]

I don't know if this was a factor or not, but maybe they changed the routing to avoid starting with a blind tee shot. Not only that, but with the new configuration you get some seaside holes on the front 9 as well. With the old routing you didn't get to the water until the 11th hole (the cape). You saw all that water and it felt painfully long before you got to play next to it! Now the water holes are 6, 8, 14,15,16.Maybe a little more balanced in that regard.
However, I will say it was a thrill attempting (in all honesty I wasn't really attempting, it just kind of happened) to drive the green on the first hole. I played from the back tees (380 yards) with a tail wind. I was able to get my drive pin high on the bank of the pot bunker at the front right of the green. I think that was my favourite start ever to a round.

[Howard Riefs]

"Cabot Cliffs debuts among North America's best."

http://www.golfadvisor.com/articles/cabot-cliffs-opening-day-cape-breton-15301.htm

[Wayne_Kozun]

I just finished my third (and final for now) round at CC, along with three each morning at CL.  The course is still very much a work in progress with many unfinished bunkers and very hairy and slow greens.


CC is a fantastic course with a closing stretch from 15-18 that is hard to top.


But there are several other great holes as well. The seventh is extremely memorable with a forced carry over a chasm to a great fairway that has a hog's back running down much of its centre.


The second is also a great hole with an upside down V shaped green with severe slope - I don't know how it will play with faster greens.


The fifth is a shortish par four that looks way longer. The sixth is a very cool Dell type of par 3 hole that should be called either The Sand Pit or Ants.


On 17 I drove into one of the left green side bunkers one day. Today I hit a little too far left to catch the slope so my ball was about 75 yards from the green. I putted down the severe downslope and just missed going into the same bunker.


The views on the course are spectacular and the current setup around the 18th green is great where there are chairs and tables set up for you to enjoy a drink after your round.


The course is a tougher walk than CL, especially the front nine, and 36 a day at CL and CC certainly does wear you out.


I can't wait to come back again and play the course when it is in a more finished state - but already it is a great joy.

[Don Hyslop]

A great interview with Bill and Ben about their creation now finished.
https://www.cabotlinks.com/qa-with-bill-coore-and-ben-crenshaw/

[Don Hyslop]

An excellent article from today's Globe and Mail on Cabot Cliffs, well worth the read.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/destinations/golfers-youve-never-seen-holes-like-this/article25551029/?service=mobilehttp://

[Pete Garvey]

Playing there this Thursday and Friday.  Has anyone played within the last couple of days?  Condition?

Thanks,

Pete Garvey

[John Kavanaugh]

Cabot is the only course outside of the USA where I have expressed interest in going.  You bastards that are whining about how difficult the walk on the Cliffs is better be right because it is costing me a trip.

[George Pazin]

Cabot is the only course outside of the USA where I have expressed interest in going.  You bastards that are whining about how difficult the walk on the Cliffs is better be right because it is costing me a trip.

So the plan is working...

-----

Wish I could've caddied the Ran, Tom, and Ben group. Hopefully someone will share some more stories from the day.

[William_G]

Playing there this Thursday and Friday.  Has anyone played within the last couple of days?  Condition?

Thanks,

Pete Garvey

condition?? young

[Wayne_Kozun]

Playing there this Thursday and Friday.  Has anyone played within the last couple of days?  Condition?

I played July 9, 10 and 11 and each day there was progress.  Some of the greens were much faster on my last day and there were more bunkers with sand.  The weather has been excellent in the last couple of weeks so there should be no issues there - much of the hydro-seeding that had just occurred when I was there should be starting to take hold.

[Daryl David]

Playing there this Thursday and Friday.  Has anyone played within the last couple of days?  Condition?

Thanks,

Pete Garvey

Fairways are in excellent shape.  Probably not as fast as they will be, but still plenty of roll.  Greens are grassed nicely and running about 6, so very slow.  It is hard to feel the contours at that speed, you just need to use your imagination as to how they will work in the future.  Some bunkers have not been finished with sand so are bare clay.  You just pull the ball out of those and continue on. The ones that have sand are fine.


Lots of elevation change, but not a terribly hard walk.  Almost all the green to tee transitions are short and the routing is excellent.


Conditions aside, this is a fabulous course.  I was very impressed by what I saw last week and can't wait to see it mature.

[Bill_McBride]

Playing there this Thursday and Friday.  Has anyone played within the last couple of days?  Condition?

Thanks,

Pete Garvey

Fairways are in excellent shape.  Probably not as fast as they will be, but still plenty of roll.  Greens are grassed nicely and running about 6, so very slow.  It is hard to feel the contours at that speed, you just need to use your imagination as to how they will work in the future.  Some bunkers have not been finished with sand so are bare clay.  You just pull the ball out of those and continue on. The ones that have sand are fine.


Lots of elevation change, but not a terribly hard walk.  Almost all the green to tee transitions are short and the routing is excellent.


Conditions aside, this is a fabulous course.  I was very impressed by what I saw last week and can't wait to see it mature.

Assuming that you played both courses at Cabot, how would you compare and contrast them?


Did you make it up to Highland Links?   There's a rare treat!

[Wayne_Kozun]

CL is a links course, while CC is not although they both are pretty much all fescue. CC has more dramatic holes, like the finishing stretch from 15-18, and has more forced carries that would be difficult for high handicappers, like 2 and 7. They both have some of the quirkiness that you get more in UK courses, like mounds directly in front of greens, such as 3(formerly eight) at CL and 13 at CC.


CC has much more elevation changes and is a harder walk than CL, especially the front nine. CL is more subtle than CC in some ways but I would say that they are both excellent courses and well worth the effort to visit. CL feels more like a Scottish course in that you start and finish in the town and can use features like church steeples as aiming points. CC is much more out in the wilderness.

[John Kavanaugh]

More difficult walk talk. How does the walk compare to Bandon Trails or the Streamsong courses?  How can a course with six par threes be both a difficult walk and a great routing?

[Wayne_Kozun]

I haven't been to Bandon or Streamsong so I can't comment relative to those two course.  By harder to walk I meant that CC is harder than CL as CL is relatively flat.  After playing both courses each day (with a caddy for all rounds) and walking 14.5 miles over 36 holes I was rather tired but not dead - I am 50 and in average shape at best.  I wouldn't say CC is an extremely hard walk, but there is some up and down on the front nine, particularly the walk from the 7th tee to fairway.

[John Kavanaugh]

Wayne, what top 100 course would you compare the difficulty of the walk to?  As an example, to say a  couse is more difficult to walk than Pinehurst #2 doesn't mean the course is a difficult walk. It's simply unneeded negativity.

[Wayne_Kozun]

Sorry about the negative waves man - this is starting to sound like Kelly's Heroes.  But nowhere did I say Cabot Cliffs was a tough walk - it is just harder relative to CL.


I would say that the course is a bit easier of a walk than Highlands Links - a similar amount of elevation change but no long walk like you have from 12 to 13 on that course.  But I would say it is a tougher walk than courses like TOC, Dornoch, PB, Spyglass, Shinny, Merion, and Friar's Head to name a few more top 100 courses as CL is a bit more spread out than most of these courses and has more elevation changes.  The toughest section is probably the walk to the 7th fairway as this is a fairly steep sandy path.

[Wayne_Kozun]

Today John Paul Newport's story in the Wall Street Journal on Cabot Cliffs was posted: 
http://www.wsj.com/articles/golfs-new-scenic-outpost-nova-scotia-1437767411

[Wayne_Kozun]

Apparently GCA'er Lloyd Cole is doing a concert in Cape Breton and stopping by to check out Cabot cliffs.
http://www.capebretonpost.com/Living/2015-07-28/article-4228629/British-singer,-writer-here-to-perform,-golf/1

Here's a story from the Halifax paper on Lloyd's travels to Nova Scotia and it contains a good quote from Lloyd about golf:

“That’s kind of the point of golf,” he muses. “And it’s not just music. Sometimes, I quite forget I have a wife and children. Basically, you’re just trying to get the ball in the hole, and that’s it.
“Everybody needs something like that, even musicians. So it comes down to doing heroin or playing golf.”

[Don Hyslop]

A nice video on the Cliffs from Score Golf and Bob Weeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=288&v=UWpmQKlL_OM

[Tom_Doak]

Wish I could've caddied the Ran, Tom, and Ben group. Hopefully someone will share some more stories from the day.

I wish you had caddied for me that day, too.  On the first hole my caddie scrambled up a small slope to look for my tee shot, slipped, and snapped the shaft of my driver as he braced himself.    He was mortified.  Ran and I kidded him about it the rest of the day, and I just managed to beat Ran in the end, borrowing his driver the rest of the way.

[Chris DeToro]

Just got back from a long weekend at Cabot.  What an unbelievable place.  Both courses are phenomenal.  We played 36 at Links/Cliffs on Sunday in cool, very windy conditions and then 18 at the Links on Monday morning in warmer, calm conditions.  I found both courses easy to walk--Links is easier to walk, but Cliffs is very manageable too.  My dad who hardly ever walks, walked 36 on Links/Cliffs on Sunday pulling a trolley without a problem.